


Southern Hospitality

by byericacameron



Series: Canon AU [6]
Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: Bigotry & Prejudice, Fights, M/M, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 07:22:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2459798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byericacameron/pseuds/byericacameron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zane should have known that going anywhere with Ty for a weekend would have ended up with fists flying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Southern Hospitality

This was not a vacation. It was a trip. A weekend trip just to get the hell away from home for a while. But it was  _not_  a fucking vacation.

Zane really hoped that if he told himself that enough it might make a difference.

He said it one more time as they slipped onto two empty stools at the end of a long bar. This place had come recommended by the girl at the front desk of their little boutique hotel and it seemed popular enough for nine on a Thursday night. Maybe a little too crowded for them to be on a date in middle-of-nowhere Georgia. Zane scanned the crowd quickly, trying to dismiss the itch of someone watching them as paranoia.

The problem was that paranoia had saved his life more than once.

“You’re stressing.” Ty leaned on the countertop, head tilted to get a better look at Zane’s face.

Of course he was stressing. They were only  _pretending_  that this little jaunt of theirs didn’t bear the dreaded V-word. Plus, that damn itch. “I’m trying to _de_ stress.”

“I can help you with that,” Ty said with an obvious and ridiculous leer.

“Feed me first, Meow Mix.” 

“Your wish is my command, Lone Star.”

Almost as if it had been Ty’s command, the bartender appeared in front of them.

“What can I get ya’ll?”

“Root beer,” Zane requested.

The bartender barely blinked as he turned to Ty.

“Same,” Ty said.

This time his eyebrows rose slightly. In judgment or speculation, Zane couldn’t be sure. Whatever he thought, the guy walked down the bar and pulled two bottles out of one of the refrigerators under the counter. When he popped the tops off and placed them in front of Ty and Zane, he nodded toward the paper menus resting in a plastic stand a foot away from them. “Ya’ll eatin’ tonight?”

So far so good, Zane thought. They looked over the menus and talked about the fuss Clancy had made over Perrimore’s birthday and were even able to eat in relative peace. That itch never quite went away, though.

It didn’t take him long to pinpoint the culprits: a large group in the corner of the bar that had taken over two of the pool tables and a few of the surrounding dinner tables. There were guys and girls—all of them locals, Zane guessed—and it had started with the curvy redhead sitting on a stool and leaning against the wall. She’d started eyeing Zane and the guys who’d been eyeing her had not seemed pleased with the development. So they started eyeing him too. By the time he and Ty had finished dinner. Zane was getting way too much attention for his liking.

“I’m gonna start getting jealous if you watch that redhead any closer, babe,” Ty whispered in his ear.

Zane huffed, not bothering to respond. If Ty had noticed his observation of the group in the corner he’d probably also guessed  _why_  he was watching them. He could play jealous if he wanted, though. Zane did love the nights Ty played jealous.

But then the bartender upped the ante.

“Girl in the corner sent you this,” he said with a grin, putting a glass of whiskey in front of Zane. “And this.” He put down a napkin with the name Debra scrawled on it in curly letters and a phone number beneath it.

Beside him Ty tensed ever so slightly, and Zane knew it wasn’t just because of the number.

“Thanks, but I don’t drink,” Zane said, pushing the glass of amber liquid away first. Then he picked up the number and glanced at Ty, rubbing his fingers over the number with a smirk on his face while Ty glared, daring him to try it. “I can’t take this either. My fiancé gets kinda crazy when jealousy hits.”

“Crazy,” Ty muttered, his glare growing darker. “I’ll show you crazy, you bastard.”

Ty slid his fingers into Zane’s hair and tugged so hard Zane had to slap his hands against the bar to keep from toppling off the stool as Ty kissed the sense out of him. The bar was forgotten, the redhead and her crew was gone, and all Zane knew was that if he didn’t pull away soon he and Ty were going to start losing clothing.

When Ty finally pulled back—looking smug as hell, the idiot—Zane remembered where they were and fought to keep the blush off his cheeks when he met the bartender’s stunned gaze.

Clearing his throat, Zane shrugged. “Like I said: crazy.”

“Don’t start that again, Lone Star,” Ty warned. “You should know by now not to—”

He cut himself off the same instant Zane felt like maybe it’d be a good idea to turn around. The entire bar had gotten quiet except for the music pumping through the overhead speakers. That never ever boded well.

 _Goddammit, Ty_ , Zane thought.

“Fucking hell,” Ty muttered.

“I think you boys need to leave.” The deep voice with the ridiculous twang came from directly behind them. Zane could see the general shape and height of the guy in the warped glass panels above the bar. He wasn’t alone. He’d brought friends. Probably all of the redhead’s admirers and then some.

“Tony, back off them.” The female voice surprised Zane, but what surprised him more was the flash of red hair he spotted in the mirror.  _Debra to the rescue, huh?_  “They aren’t bothering no one. You leave them be.”

“Their kind don’t belong here,” Tony growled.

“You didn’t say that when it was me and Sarah kissin a few weeks ago, did ya?” Debra shot back.

Zane eyes popped open wide and he glanced at Ty to find him desperately biting back laughter. Ty mouthed “Oh my god!” at Zane and Zane winked back, swallowing his own grin.

“That ain’t the same and you know it!” A hand landed on Zane’s shoulder and tugged him backward off the stool.

He’d been too distracted by Debra’s unexpected revelation. Zane hadn’t noticed the movement in the mirror. Falling backward, Zane barely caught Ty’s extended arm in time to keep him from slamming his head on the hardwood floor. Ty grunted and almost fell too, but stabilized himself on the bar and managed to yank Zane to his feet, his eyes going icy and cold as he stared over Zane’s shoulder.

Oh shit. This was not going to end well anymore.

The insults Ty would’ve ignored, but Tony had crossed a wide line now, one Zane didn’t think Ty was willing to forgive tonight.

“You don’t  _ever_  put your hands on him, asshole.”

“Protecting your girlfriend, fa—”

Tony didn’t ever finish the sentence. Before Ty could even blink, one of Zane’s wrist knives was out and at the guy’s throat.

“No. My  _fiancé_  was trying to save your life.” Tony was big, but not as fit as he probably had been once upon a time. Brown hair on brown eyes on olive skin and, now, quivering under the point of Zane’s knife. “It’s common sense, you fucking idiot. Don’t touch people you don’t know. You never know where they’ve been and what kind of reflexes they’ve picked up.”

“Oh hell.”

Ty’s muttered words were all Zane registered before something thumped against his side so hard he started toppling. Again. Tony screamed as the tip of the knife bit into his skin, but Zane didn’t care. He was too busy counterbalancing Ty and the moron who’d tried to tackle him.

Tony’s scream started something, though. Some absolutely mad blood-frenzy that swept through the crowd in an instant. Two then four then seven were rushing toward Ty and Zane, fists flying. Zane shoved Ty hard enough to help him regain his footing before he flipped his knife and use the hilt to smack down on his attacker’s shoulder and send him to his knees. That tripped up the guy behind him and left Zane to dodge a wild right hook. To his right, Ty cursed and something crashed, but he couldn’t check in. Not yet.

This was fucking ridiculous. They were in the Deep South. Being jumped. In a bar. They were probably going to end up in jail.  _Again_.

Fucking vacations!

This needed to end now, before someone got hurt in a way that wouldn’t be fixed with a Band-Aid and an icepack.

Quickly slipping the knife back into its sheath to avoid accidentally slicing someone open (accidentally slicing someone  _else_  open), Zane slammed his boot into one guy’s stomach, knocked his friend to the ground with a punch that connected solidly with his jaw and sent reverberations up Zane’s arm, and then jammed his elbow into the spine of the guy who’d just jumped on Ty’s back. It was just enough to loosen the guy’s grip and gave Ty the freedom he needed to bring his knee up to meet one asshole’s face before slamming his elbow back into the ribs of the guy behind him.

It had been less than a minute, Zane guessed, but there were six guys moaning on the floor around them while the rest of the bar sat staring.

At the edge of the mayhem, the redhead stood with her arms crossed and a deadly glare on her face. But it wasn’t aimed at Zane. Tony shuddered under the weight of that glare.

“Do you  _see_  what you did? Now all your asshole friends are going to end up charged with assault just cause you think you have the right to control who I flirt with after we had  _one_  date  _two years_  ago!”

“Assault?!” Tony squawked, his hand still pressed against his throat where Zane’s knife had bit. “They fucking stabbed me!”

“ _After_  you harassed them. And only because Luke couldn’t think before he jumped into a fight.” She shook her head and glanced over the bar to the bartender. “You call Daddy yet?”

“He’s on his way.”

Like it was a movie cue, flashing lights shone through the window. Zane closed his eyes. Ty groaned.

“McCoy is going to kill me if he has to bail me out again,” Zane muttered.

“I’m sorry, Zane.”

Zane blinked and looked at Ty, surprised by the amount of guilt he saw in those bright eyes he loved so much. Sighing and smiling ruefully, Zane shook his head. “Worth it, doll. Every time.”

There was an expected process of events from this point forward, especially in a location like who-fucking-knows-where-we-are-because-Ty-literally-threw-a-dart-at-the-map, Georgia. Local assholes start a fight with the gay guys. Cops are called. Cops arrive. They demand ID and start muttering about lethal training and bar brawls. Zane and Ty end up in a holding cell.

What Zane hadn’t expected to happen was for Debra and the bartender to converge on the cop that walked through the door, both of them talking fast and their hands flying as they pointed at everyone and everything. The two seemed to be jumping off each other’s stories and the more he watched them together the more he got the feeling that there was some sort of family connection there even though they looked  _nothing_  alike.

“Now I know I told you I wouldn’t tolerate you staring trouble anymore, Anthony,” the cop drawled as he strolled across the still quiet bar. “I’m getting these calls far too often for my peace of mind and you always seem to be involved somehow. You’re getting too old for this and there are gonna start being consequences I don’t think you’re ready to handle if you don’t straighten your shit out, son.”

“Sir, they were harassing Deb and she—”

The cops eyes glinted and the sardonic half-smile he’d been wearing until now dropped completely. “She told me a completely different story so you better stop right there before you cross a line you ain’t seen me draw in the sand before.”

Tony swallowed and nodded, his hand still pressed against his throat even though Zane was pretty sure it couldn’t still be bleeding. The cut hadn’t been  _that_  deep.

“You boys all right?” he asked Zane.

They nodded in unison, but Ty was the one who says, “Yes, sir.”

The words came out crisp and clear, the tone so obviously Ty falling back into his Marine mode that Zane had to bite back a smile. The cop tilted his head, studying Ty closer. “Military?”

“Force Recon, sir.”

The cop looked impressed as he glanced at the guys beginning to pull themselves up from the floor. “Surprised there ain’t no blood, then.” Shaking his head, he glared at Tony again. “You hear that, moron? You just assaulted a Force Recon Marine and—” he paused at glanced at Zane. “You military too, son?”

“No, sir.” But Zane pulled out his badge and flipped it open. “FBI.”

The cop barked a laugh. “A Force Recon Marine and a Fed, Anthony. You’re lucky you’re breathing and not on your way to a cell right now, though that might change. If the agent wants to press charges I think I got more than enough evidence and witnesses to drag your ass down to County for the night.”

Ty was already shaking his head when Zane said, “No, sir. We’re just passing through for the weekend. Just came to get some dinner.”

“Well, I’ll leave you to Deb and Derek, then. They’ll take care of you and see you get what you need while you’re here,” he said, nodding toward the redhead and the bartender. Then he handed over a business card with a smile. “You just let me know if you get any other trouble while you’re in town, all right? Think I’ll take these boys in for drunk and disorderly just to be on the safe side.”

He waved his hand and a couple other cops hovering near the door hustled over to corral the groaning idiots and haul them out of the bar.

“You be good now,” the cop said as he kissed the redhead on the cheek.

She blushed and nodded. “Thanks, Daddy.”

Then he winked. “Tell Sarah I said hi, huh?”

“Night Sherriff,” someone called as he left.

Ty blinked at Zane. “Did we fall into the Twilight Zone?”

“Don’t question it, Ty. Don’t.” Zane collapsed onto the stool, rubbing his side where someone must have gotten a lucky punch in. He hadn’t really felt it until now. Adrenaline was better than pain meds most of the time.

“Next time I get the idea to go away for a weekend, talk me out of it,” Ty muttered as he sat down again. “You lock all the doors and barricade us into the building if you have to.”

Zane smiled at the thoughts  _that_  image produced. A whole weekend at home with no distractions and no reason to leave?

Leaning closer, he kissed Ty, lingering much longer than necessary. “I might do that.”

The shiver that ran across Ty’s body told Zane they were  _definitely_  on the same wavelength.

Clearing his throat, Ty raised his arm to catch the bartender’s attention. “Check, please.” 


End file.
